Sometimes I think that, in our culture, we greedily gather as much trash as we can, and throw out all the things that are really valuable, as trash. We're so eager to have all this stuff that is just the same as other people have, and we neglect the things that only we have access to.
Anyone can make money and drive expensive cars and be famous, given the right qualities and circumstances. Anyone can eat at the best restaurants if they have enough money. But only you can be you and do the things you do and have the relationships you have.
I listened to Ren and his band, the big push, for the first time yesterday. I listened to his song, Hi Ren, and, as so many people who have recorded video reactions to it have said, I have never heard anything like that before, and I loved it as soon as I heard it. Then I listened to 'the big push' busking -
Wade in the water / Nina simone / Trouble so hard. They're mind-blowingly good. I didn't know it was possible to be that good. Can music be this timeless and strong?
In 'Hi Ren', in the monologue he does at the end, he talks about struggles with mental illness and how it's not a 'David vs Goliath' struggle but rather, 'a pendulum, eternally swaying from the dark to the light'. He says that it's not a battle to be won, it's a dance.
That rings true to me. There are definitely victories and breakthroughs but recovery is a process, not an event. You go up and you go down, and through it all, you're making progress. The downs are as important as the ups.
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